Months ago, I found myself parked on the couch, watching my husband sleep through another News Hour with Jim Lehrer. I’m rapidly developing the gnat-like attention span of chronic multi-taskers everywhere and am usually loathe to gain my news in detailed, intelligent, 10 minute segments. Say it fast, and with plenty of links, my friend.
But parked on my couch with computer on lap and Judy Woodruff in the background, I was only half-listening as I heard the correspondent begin rattling off names of other news networks… “And for the record, we invited Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, and NBC to participate, but they declined our offer or did not respond." And later Woodruff added (with a tone of irony that could baffle only the likes of Katie Couric) "We've been talking to the Pentagon since Monday about participating in this segment, but when we finally scheduled it today, they were unable to supply a guest on short notice."
And so began my education.
I am not a daily New York Times reader, and so I had missed the first real mainstream media nod to the pentagon pundits’ scandal. (Is a scandal a scandal, really, if few talk about it and the media vultures go mum?)
The Cliff’s Notes version is this: the pentagon (under the rule of Donald Rumsfeld) quietly recruited, groomed, scripted and injected military analysts (so-called) into mainstream media outlets. When newscasters and groups like Amnesty International started questioning the administration’s tactics, these insiders echoed the administration’s language on the war and Guantanamo. Most have business ties to the contract companies currently making a bundle rebuilding in the wake of the war. As the pundits spoke up on TV, applauded our war, our torture, our former Secretary of Defense, the White House quoted them back to reporters as examples of public support for their policies.
I imagine a ventriloquist feigning surprise at the cheerful banter of his puppet.
Since the story broke, there’s been little public outcry and the press seems racked by a case of fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, well… let’s not talk about that. We’ve been had, over and shamelessly over again in this country. My knee-jerk sense of injustice notwithstanding, it’s gotten exhausting being so indignant.
But I can’t imagine that sheer exhaustion is what has kept the 24-newscycle quiet. I don’t think the alternative Jeramiah Wright story was as fascinating as its coverage would suggest.
There is egg, big juicy, blood and guts, Journalism 101 egg dripping down the proverbial face of CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, ETC. ETC. ETC. Check your sources. What does your source have to gain by giving this story? Who are they in bed with? Who’s signing their checks, taking them out to drinks and dinner; who’s flying them around on private jets?
Is this news? Is the news true? Are our partners in truth-seeking so embarrassed that now they too will have a hand in burying the truth? All’s quiet on the western front, or at least on cable.
The story’s reach may now only be carried on feeble legs (teetering on the limited bravery of mainstream media). I’ve been waiting for more on this, and angry Huffington Post and a lone wolf PBS segment have nearly marked the boundaries of the story’s coverage.
In a world large with deception, I think we are often too tired for conspiracy hunting. But when deception has been so carefully orchestrated, I’d like to know whose blood I have on my hands—and how much. Without the help of real journalism, I’m unsure whether to measure our collective guilt by the dollar, the gallon, or in lives lost.
